Snake Hunting
by Klaverell
Summary: Betty find out that Jughead is planning on sacrificing himself for the serpents. She beats him to it. Penny and the Ghoulies beat Betty up pretty badly. Will Jughead come in time? Bughead.


I only hesitated for a second, before marching towards the gang of ghoulies behind the woman I needed to confront most, Penny Peabody, the woman who wants to kill my boyfriend.

Penny laughed as I came closer, "Lost little one?"

"I'm exactly where I need to be," I said, my voice surprisingly steady as I walked toward the painful future.

"I'd stop right there, Blondie , before you get yourself hurt," Penny said, still not knowing who it was.

I stepped into the streetlight, making her face visible.

Penny laughed, "No fucking way. Well isn't it the precious girlfriend of Jughead Jones. What the hell are you doing here?"

"I know Jughead is coming soon to sacrifice himself to you. Take me instead. Leave him out of this, just take me instead of him," I pleaded.

Penny smirked, "I've gotta hand it to you, girlie, you've got guts. Alright, kid. You do realize what you're getting yourself into, don't you?"

Tears ran down my cheeks, but I didn't move to wipe them away, "Do whatever you want, just don't touch Jug."

She turned to the ghoulies, "Grab her," I didn't move as two of them grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me toward Penny, "Let's rough her up a little bit, boys. Wouldn't want to disappoint Jones by not giving our guest the proper treatment."

Someone pulled at my blonde ponytail and my head was flung back. I bit my lip to keep from crying out.

"What do we think, boys? Does she have a serpent tattoo I can carve off?" Penny grinned, tracing her cheek bone with the tip of her knife. I stilled, my eyes met Penny's and she dug the blade into my cheek, dragging it down from the corner of my eye to the side of my nose as I bit my lip to not scream.

"Whoops, my knife slipped," Penny chuckled. "One more thing, Blondie, then I'll hand you over to the boys."

The ghoulies forced me to the ground so I was laying on my back. I was pinned to the ground as Penny strattled me, pulling my shirt up to reveal my stomach.

The tip of her blade touched my skin and I sucked in my breath, trying to squirm away from her knife, "Just to make sure that if you make it out of here alive, which I wouldn't count on, your little Jughead will remember what he did to you," she forced her blade and broke the skin, pain flowing through my body as she dragged her knife down to form a P while saying, "forever."

I screamed at the pain. Penny glared at the ghoulie holding me down, "Would you shut her up? We don't want anyone ruining our fun, would we?"

I sobbed as the man slapped his hand over my mouth as Penny continued to carve her name into my stomach.

When she was satisfied, she stood, her hands covered in my blood, "Perfect," she glanced around, "Have at it, boys."

The ghoulies' faces hovered above me and a fist was coming closer to my face. I barely had time to shut my eyes before it hit.

Darkness soon surrounded me.

I swam back into consciousness to the sound of someone cackling, "Well it sure as hell took you long enough! What was the delay, lover boy? Call your girlfriend one last time?"

Only the sound of someone's feet pounding on the stones was heard. Until they stopped.

"Oh that's right, you didn't, because we have her," Jenny's voice rang in my head and I tried to open my eyes. Only one of them would squint open.

I tilted my head slightly to try and find him, but immediately regretted it as waves of pain rolled through my head.

"Bullshit. She's far away from here, out of harms way. Out of your way," Jughead's snappy voice filled my ears and I wanted to scream at him to run, to leave.

Jenny's voice dripped with fake sympathy, "She didn't tell you, did she? Well, I suppose that would make sense, you'd have tried to stop her. Your girl - she was a smart one, Jones. You were lucky-"

"What the hell are you on about, Peabody?" Jughead's voice was full of anger, but with a bit of concern.

Something kicked my stomach, rolling me onto my side. I curled in on myself, clutching my stomach, my hands bloody from the blood on my stomach.

I opened my left eye to see just Jughead standing in front of me. His eyes were huge and watery. His hands hung limp at him sides.

"Juggie?" Betty croaked, was this a dream? She couldn't tell.

Jughead immediately moved towards her, sprinting to her and throwing himself down to the ground next to her, tears tumbling down his face, "Betty. Oh God, Betty."

He touched his fingertips to her arm as if she might shatter beneath his hand.

Betty sobbed, "Leave, Jug. Please."

"I'm never leaving you, Betty Cooper. Ever again," he pressed a kiss to my temple, his tears dropping onto my face.

"Oh for God's sake. Will they just curl up and die?" Penny sighed.

Jug turned over his shoulder to see the serpents walking towards us.

Penny sighed, "Let's go snake hunting, boys," she picked up her boot and brought it down on my head, but before she could make contact, Jug had pushed her away, tugging me as carefully as he could toward him and up into his arms.

I hissed at the pain every step he took brought, "I know, Bets, I know, I know. I'm sorry, God, I love you please stay with me. I know it hurts-"

"Jughead!" F.P. called, I heard him gasp, "What- Never mind, you can fill me in later, you need to get her out of here, right now, okay?"

"No, Dad, I want to fight! They did this to her! They deserve-"

"Son, the serpents will give them exactly what they deserve, Alright? Think of Betty, every minute you waste could be the last minute of her life, look at her, I'm surprised she's still conscious."

"I love you, alright, now go to the hospital, I'll meet you there."

"I love you too, Dad."

Jughead turned and my head rested limply against Jughead's chest.

"Betty, you've gotta forgive me for this, but I've got to run to the car, alright? It's going to hurt and you've got to-"

I gasped and gripped his arm, "Jug, go."

He started sprinting and the pain was so overwhelming to a point of where I couldn't fight to stay conscious anymore and I welcomed the darkness.

When I came to again, everything hurt. I was sore everywhere and it felt like someone was sticking needles in my stomach.

I groaned.

"Betty?" A voice gasped.

I tried to pry open my eyes, but my right eye was still swollen shut.

I saw Jughead through my left eye, sitting in a chair next to me, his hand clasped mine.

"Juggie," I sighed in relief.

He stood, and leaned over me, holding my cheek with his hand and kissing me.

When he pulled away he whispered against my lips, "I love you, Betty Cooper."

I smiled, "I love you too, Jughead Jones."

He frowned as he sat down again, still holding my hand, "Why did you do it, Betty?"

I rolled my eyes, "Because I love you, Jug. And I knew that Penny would've been a lot meaner to you than to me-"

"She almost killed you!" Jughead exclaimed.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "And she would've made sure she killed you."

Jughead sighed, "At least you're alright now," he said, kissing my hand.

The door opened and my mom gasped, "You're awake!"

She ran to me and gave me a crushing hug, which I tried not to let her know how much she was hurting me, but a gasp of pain escaped.

She immediately pulled back, "Oh I'm so sorry, Bets."

"Mom, Dad. Did he get- you know-" I asked, my heart beating through my chest in anticipation.

My mom glanced at Jughead, "Jughead, would you give us a minute?"

Jughead presses his lips to my forehead and whispered, "I'll be right out in the hall, alright?"

I smiled at him and nodded.

When the door closed behind him, my mom smiled at me, "He hasn't left, you know. Not for one second has he left this room, except for now."

I couldn't help but blush.

"I'm so glad you're alright, Betty. At first I thought you ran because of your father. I got the story from F.P."

She sighed, "You ran when you saw the police car. You didn't stay to watch. He was arrested. He's in jail at this very moment where he will wait to find out how long he'll be there. Most likely for life."

"Are Archie and Veronica here?" I asked.

She nodded, "I'll go get them."

She stood and left, Jughead immediately taking her place, "You okay?"

I smiled, nodding, "My mom said you never left."

"I made a promise to never leave you again, Betty cooper. And I'm not breaking it."

I reached for him and kissed him, "I love you."

"I love you too."


End file.
